The No. 2 leader thought for a moment and said, "Then send someone to deliver the medicine."
Chief No. 1 frowned and said: "However, after the third friend turned against us, the secret communication line between us and Yan'an has been destroyed, and the medicine cannot be delivered." After a pause at this point, Chief No. 1 added, "If
If the transportation lines are not restored, no matter how many medicines are provided, they will only benefit Shi Yousan, a stubborn and repetitive villain."
The No. 2 leader immediately fell silent, because this was indeed a difficult problem.
Chief No. 3 suddenly said: "Two leaders, I have an idea."
Chief No. 2 snorted and said, "Speak directly if you have something to say, don't act coy like a girl."
Chief No. 3 coughed awkwardly and said: "Most of our transportation teams are composed of fellow villagers and have poor self-defense capabilities, so they need to rely on transportation lines and sometimes even require troops to provide protection. But if this transportation team itself is a
A powerful fighting force, then it is completely unrestricted by traffic lines."
"That's easy for you to say." The No. 2 leader objected, "Is it really that easy to send troops to transport supplies? The key to the problem is what size of troops to send out? If the scale is large, it will be inflexible to move and it will be easy to be attacked by the Japanese.
The puppet army's interception and killing operations are flexible on a small scale, but without a basis to support them, I'm afraid it will be difficult to last."
"Yes." Chief No. 1 also nodded and said, "From Dameishan to Yan'an, you have to cross several provinces and pass through the territory of the Japanese puppet army, the stubborn army, the Central Army and even the Shanxi-Sui Army. The environment is too complicated and the situation is too dangerous.
, if there is a slight mistake in the middle, it will be a small matter if the supplies are lost, but the troops responsible for transporting the supplies will also suffer devastating losses."
However, the No. 3 leader seemed confident and said: "Then it depends on which troops are sent."
Leaders No. 1 and No. 2 felt their hearts move slightly when they heard this. After looking at each other, they said at the same time: "Spike?"
"Yes, Langya Brigade!" Leader No. 3 said, "If Langya Brigade is sent to escort this batch of supplies, and Xu Rui leads the army, what kind of complex situation will they not be able to handle? What kind of vicious enemy will they not be able to deal with?
Instead of worrying about the safety of supplies and troops, the two chiefs would be more practical to worry about the safety of the Central Army and the Shanxi-Sui Army along the way."
After a pause, Chief No. 3 added: "There is another benefit to sending Xu Rui and the Langya Brigade."
The No. 2 leader snorted and asked displeasedly: "What other benefits are there, please tell me?"
Chief No. 3 didn't care at all, and said with a smile: "Send Xu Rui and Langya Brigade to transport this batch of medicines. We don't have to detour from various bases like before. We can go straight to Yan'an, so the distance can be greatly shortened.
, the time can also be greatly shortened, and the medicine can be delivered to Yan'an in less than a month!"
Chief No. 1 was also somewhat moved and said, "Lao Xiang, we can consider it."
However, what is surprising is that the No. 2 leader refused immediately and said angrily: "What are you considering? If you have anything to consider, come up with some bad ideas."
After saying that, Chief No. 2 left angrily.
Chief No. 3 was completely confused.
Chief No. 1 smiled and reassured: "Xiao Zhang, don't worry. Lao Xiang is not targeting you. He is worried that Xu Rui and the Langya Brigade will not be able to come back after they go to Yan'an. He is afraid that the central government will detain people."
"Ah?" Chief No. 3 really didn't think of this.
However, some things are not subject to human will.
…
At the same time, in Yan'an.
Vice Chairman Zhou and Boss Zhu came to the cave house rented by Chairman Mao again.
When the two of them came in together, Chairman Mao was settling accounts with a writing brush.
What is it? Chairman Mao is calculating which of his living expenses can be eliminated, and how much money can he save every month after eliminating these expenses?
In fact, Yan'an's difficulties are far more than just a lack of medicines. An even greater difficulty is the lack of funds.
To make revolution, money is also needed. At the very least, party members and cadres need to eat and wear clothes, right? And office supplies need to be bought with money, right? Of course, these are the small parts, and the big part is the funds of the army! One bullet,
A grenade, or even every stitch and thread, requires money to buy. Even if it is produced in one's own arsenal, workers must be paid, and purchasing raw materials from fellow villagers or black market merchants also costs money, right?
When the Anti-Japanese War first started, the Nationalist Government also provided some funds.
However, since the friction broke out last year, the Nationalist Government has completely stopped all funding for the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army. Almost a year has passed and it has not given a penny of funding! What's more, the size of the Eighth Route Army has now expanded to 400,000, and the New Fourth Army has also expanded to
There are nearly 100,000 people. Even if the National Government pays money as agreed, it is simply not enough.
Therefore, Chairman Mao was almost worried to death in order to raise funds to supply the 500,000 troops ahead.
Someone once calculated that by the 29th year of the Republic of China, it would cost about 1,000 yuan in French currency to maintain an Eighth Route Army soldier for one year, which is equivalent to about 100 oceans! So the 400,000 Eighth Route Army soldiers would need 400 million yuan.
Yuan legal currency, or 40 million yuan, the tax revenue from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the Anti-Japanese Base Area alone is simply not enough.
If we don’t have enough money, what should we do? There will be some seizures from each base area, and some will be donated by the leftists of the Kuomintang and some democratic progressives. In addition, the biggest input is the secret assistance from the Communist International and the Soviet government. However, special explanation is needed.
What is surprising is that the Soviet Union’s total aid to the Nationalist Government amounted to US$500 million.
In comparison, the aid provided to the CCP is barely even a fraction.
In the winter of the 26th year of the Republic of China, Wang Ming returned from the Soviet Union and brought back US$20,000 in funds from the Comintern, which was already considered a "huge" amount of aid to the CCP.
Under this background, coupled with the Kuomintang's economic blockade of Yan'an, the CCP was finally forced to produce to save itself. The cadres and masses in Yan'an not only solved the problem of food and clothing, but even sold the excess food to the Kuomintang, which was even more difficult to understand.
What is believable is that Yan'an even sold oil to the Kuomintang!
Of course, these are all things for later, not yet.
Mr. Zhu sat down on the edge of the pit and asked, "Old Mao, what are you thinking about?"
Chairman Mao said without raising his head: "I am calculating what expenses can be saved. You see, you can collect the used paper and reuse it. In this way, the paper cost can be saved at least half, as well as the pen and ink cost. In the future, some
Non-essential documents can be marked with charcoal, which can save a fortune."
Mr. Zhu said angrily: "How much money can you save like this?"
Chairman Mao said self-deprecatingly: "No matter how small the mosquitoes are, they are still meat. If you can save one, they will be the same."
Vice Chairman Zhou also said: "Chairman, I just received a telegram from the southwestern Shanxi base area, saying that a large-scale malaria epidemic has broken out there, and they urgently request the central government to provide emergency support for quinine pills."
"Is there also a malaria epidemic in southwestern Shanxi?" Chairman Mao frowned immediately.
"No," Mr. Zhu said worriedly, "This year's weather is unusually hot. In previous years, it wouldn't really get hot until July, but this year it was extremely hot in June. Moreover, there was a lot of rain on both sides of the Yellow River this year.
This leads to the breeding of mosquitoes and flies, which in turn leads to malaria outbreaks."
There are indeed very few malaria outbreaks in the north, which is indeed abnormal.
Vice Chairman Zhou added: "I'm worried that there will be malaria outbreaks in more base areas in the future. Although the epidemic is not particularly serious, it will inevitably weaken the combat effectiveness of each base area. Therefore, we still have to find a way to eliminate the malaria epidemic as soon as possible.
The tonic water and quinine tablets from the Dameishan base area were shipped here."
Chairman Mao said: "However, the traffic lines have been destroyed by Shi Yousan."
Mr. Zhu said: "Old Mao, I have an idea. Let Xu Rui lead Langya to transport the medicine directly."
Vice Chairman Zhou also echoed: "I think the boss's idea is very good. If Xu Rui and Langya Brigade are responsible for escorting, the medicines can be guaranteed to be safe, and with the mobility of Xu Rui and Langya Brigade, there is no need to detour to various places in North China."
From the base area, you can take a straight line directly to Yan'an, saving time and effort."
Mr. Zhu said: "It just so happens that we can meet this little guy Xu Rui."
Chairman Mao was a little moved, but then thought that the New Fourth Army might not be willing to release him.
Mr. Zhu is worthy of being an old man who has been with Chairman Mao for more than ten years. He immediately guessed what Chairman Mao was thinking. He smiled and said: "Are you worried that the New Fourth Army will not let him go? Don't worry, I'll take the lead.
We have already thought about it, and we will not mention letting Xu Rui and Langya Brigade escort the medicines."
After a pause, Mr. Zhu added: "After all, Comrade Xu Rui has only been in the party for a short period of time. He still lacks sufficient understanding of our party's organizational structure, program and charter, and his communist beliefs may not be firm. After research, the Central Committee decided to specially
Recruit Comrade Xu Rui and Comrade Leng Tiefeng to study full-time for three months in the senior class of the Anti-Japanese University."
Chairman Mao then chuckled and said: "Boss, you are trying to drain the fire from under the cauldron."
Mr. Zhu chuckled and said, "Can you just say it?"
"Okay, of course." Chairman Mao smiled and said, "Who dares not to listen to you?"
Chairman Mao shook his head and asked Mr. Zhu again: "Boss, when the three-month study period is over, you probably don't plan to let Xu Rui and Leng Tiefeng go back, right?"
"Of course." Mr. Zhu said righteously, "cadres like Xu Rui and Leng Tiefeng who can lead troops and lead battles, after being trained by the Anti-Japanese University, should take up higher-level positions and take on more important tasks.
Responsibilities and missions, of course, I am not saying that his responsibilities in the New Fourth Army are not important, but the Central Committee is the Central Committee after all, right?"
"Hahaha, yes, yes, boss, you are right." Chairman Mao laughed and nodded.
Vice Chairman Zhou said: "Chairman, boss, I will draft a telegram to the New Fourth Army now and ask them to arrange for Comrade Xu Rui and Leng Tiefeng to come to Yan'an to study at the Anti-Japanese University as soon as possible."